Developer wants to build retail/office space, police station in Ashby

ASHBY -- A local developer striving to provide more space for retailers in town is not ruling out the possibility of building the new police station as part of his development plans.

Longtime Ashby resident Rene Rainville purchased a parcel of land next to Town Hall almost seven years ago, and has received approval from the Planning Board to build two buildings on the property that would house retail and office space.

The two buildings would sit one behind the other on the piece of property that is between Town Hall and the post office.

The structure closest to Main Street is a 7,566-square-foot market building with leasable space. It would include 1,939 square feet for office use, 1,755 square feet for a farmer's market, 782 square feet for a coffee shop and 1,790 square-feet for a 28-seat restaurant.

To date, no business has moved into the building, which was constructed in the fall and early winter.

The second building -- at 6,760 square feet -- would potentially be the new police station. While Rainville said there is no specific agreement between him and the town, his floor plans contain holding cells.

The current police station, situated behind the Town Hall, is a 1,400 square-foot trailer and has been used by the department for nearly 20 years. This arrangement was supposed to be temporary. The trailer was put there 40 years ago to temporarily house a kindergarten classroom.

If the department moved into the new building, which has yet to be built, Rainville would maintain ownership of the building and charge the town rent, a solution that selectmen Dan Meunier said is not ideal in his mind.

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"I know the possibility is there but it's a tough situation because we can't enter into a lease agreement without all the specs out there and a building in place," he said.

Meunier said that Rainville has not come before the selectmen yet but would be open to the idea if and when he decided to make some sort of presentation.

"I think it's a tough thing. I would definitely look at any options out there but it's tough because we're a municipality. We would have to follow certain procedures. I know I would love a police station but there are legal aspects on how to go about it," he said.

That includes, he said, having to possibly put out a request for proposal, or RFP, for local contractors who wanted to work on the project rather just enter into an agreement with one particular person.

"I don't think he's dropped the idea. It's a tough situation for us," Meunier said. "I'm not opposed to looking at it but I haven't seen an official proposal, I haven't seen costs, or how big it would, or access routes or anything."

One of his biggest concerns, he said, is the location of the proposed building behind one building without necessarily a clear access point out of the parking lot in a hurry.

"I wouldn't want a cruiser flying through there. Someone else told me there was an access road. I don't think he's officially done. I don't want to waste his time but I don't know where the whole process would go," he said. "I don't know how he can move forward with the plan without us being able to commit to the property. Maybe with a town administrator now, it's something that he may be bale to look at."

One thing he knows for sure is that the town would not likely support any override or debt exclusion to fund a brand new station on its own. He said that two debt exclusions have been attempted in the past few years to fund a station, both of which failed.

"I don't think we would get to the point where we could self-fund a new center, especially one that would be used possibly as a regional center down the road," he said. "We've tried for an override twice for a police station and the residents have shot it down. The economy hasn't gotten any better than five or so years ago when it was tried."

Ashby selectmen had been in talks with the selectmen in Ashburnham to form a regional dispatch center, which would have been housed in Ashburnham, but selectmen in Ashby did not support the proposal.

Officials in both towns had applied jointly for a grant through the state's 911 program in the amount of $358,870.55, but they only received $250,000 to put towards the project.

One of the biggest sticking points for officers in Ashby was the town towns use different software to input all their calls, and data may be lost during conversion.

The selectmen also previously looked at merging with Townsend, but potential staff cuts proved too great for the process to move forward.

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